//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: A Football Game Gone Wrong 
// Story: Gamer God 
// by Commander Ice 
//------------------------------//

Twilight Sparkle let out a menacing cackle as she slowly ascended into the sky, wings spread wide, magical energy crackling around her like purple bolts of lightning. Celestia stood before her pupil, stunned, as she watched Twilight become more powerful than anypony had ever been in Equestria. Celestia shook off her dumbfounded expression and gritted her teeth, anger overwhelming her senses. "Twilight!" She bellowed, catching her students attention, "you have gone too far! This pursuit of power... this is all unnecessary!" Celestia began to sound more pleading than angered, as her expression shifted from one of rage to one of remorse in a split moment, "please, just come down. We can resolve this peacefully!"

Twilight's magical power stained the stone walls of the Canterlot Castle with a deep purple light, which only seemed to grow brighter as more and more energy built up within the young alicorn's body. She grinned intimidatingly at the remorseful Princess of the Sun. "Why?" She asked, ecstatically, in a voice that was not quite her own, "why must I stop? Nopony has ever TRIED to reach the heights I've achieved! My power can rival that of you AND Princess Luna! The fact you've never even tried to reach your potential..." she scoffed at her mentor, "it's pathetic!"

In that instant, Celestia lost any respect she held towards her pupil and steeled herself, bringing back the fury of the sun within her eyes. "If sacrificing the lives of innocent ponies is what it takes to unleash the true potential," she had to squint to see Twilight now, her brilliant aura almost as if a miniature sun had developed within the castle walls, "then I would rather die myself knowing I do not have to bear the weight of such sin on my back!"

Twilight's power, as if limitless, continued to escalate, causing the purple hues to turn into bright white. "The lives of only a few brought me here!" She exclaimed, excitement filling her voice, as if she were a foal in a candy shop, "imagine what the life of another princess could do! Princess Celestia, you have been alive for thousands of years, and yet you have never even BOTHERED to increase your potential! Were you really so satisfied with what you had? Sometimes, sacrifices are necessary for the greater good!"

"The greater good...?" Celestia's confusion soon turned itself into an ever increasing fury, "if you believe that what you are doing is justifiable... just who do you think you are!?"

Twilight's grin got wider, "Princess Twilight Sparkle. Pupil of Princess Celestia. But you can call me..." her eyes shifted from their natural purple iris to a bright shade of white, "God."

That final sentence set Celestia off, and she charged at her pupil as white light finally encased the whole of the room, piercing through the many windows of the castle. In the back of her mind, however, she began thinking rationally, 'Twilight... my pupil... and all ponies... please understand... what I am about to do...' she admitted, there was one hint of truth in Twilight's words, and they spun like a wheel within Celestia's mind as the fight between pupil and mentor began.

'Sacrifice is necessary for the greater good.'

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James sat down on the hot metal bench of the bleachers, contorting his face into one of discomfort as he attempted to properly adjust himself to the scalding hot seat, and stared out onto the large football field as people slowly began to prepare themselves for the oncoming game. A whistle blast was heard from the other side of the field. A loud *THUMP* was heard as the football was kicked high into the air to the opposing team. James watched, lazily, as the ball soared through the air before landing into the arms of the enemy team. People got up and started cheering loudly as the game soon began. James, on the other hand, leaned back, resting his arms on the bench directly behind him, and sighed.

James had never been one for sports: in fact, he hated them. The concepts of sports just didn't seem to sit well with him. He mainly thought of it as a bunch of sweaty guys or girls fighting over a ball, or a puck or some other dominant factor that lead to victory, which was rather short lived until the next game took place. It was a boring 'rinse and repeat' cycle that was nothing more to him than a colossal waste of time.

Someone was tackled at the halfway point, and the whistle was blown. People began calling things out to the ref; as if it were a bad call or something that let their team gain an unfair advantage. The ref's call, however, was final and the game went on with no further interruption from the crowd. James shook his head. Why can't the players on the field think things through for themselves? In the end, they were all simply idiots following a veteran, who thought of cunning strategies to get his soldiers through the enemy lines.

James raised an eyebrow and made a small smile. He never really thought of football that way before. He made a mental note to himself that the sport could actually be some variation of war tactics.

The boy beside him, a large, stocky being with brown hair that had been bleached blonde, slapped James on his skinny shoulder. James cast his attention away from the war zone tactics simulation and back to the boy who had hit him. The boy smiled at James warmly. "You enjoyin' the game James?" He asked heartily, a deep, bass-like voice that still held onto a cheery 
sounding octave, "you barely smile at any sort of sport, dude!"

James turned his attention back to the game. "I was just thinking about some stuff," James admitted, "the thought made me smile. Not the game, Bernard."

Bernard shook his head, his smile still present on his face as he sat down. "I'll never understand you, bud. How can you not like sports? It's always just 'video games, video games, video games' with you!" He turned his attention back to James, "you, my friend, need a new hobby!"

James leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees and lacing his fingers together in front of his mouth. "if you want to find me a hobby, Bernard," James began, his voice holding a slight edge, "why did we have to start with my least favorite thing? At least video games make more sense."

Bernard, confused at his friends frustration, raised his hands and defense. "Hey; first off, I'm entitled to my own opinions. Even if they're about you. Secondly, this game isn't about finding your potential interest; you CHOSE to come down here with me. You bought the ticket with me, remember?"

James' hand got to meet the warm surface of his forehead. “And I immediately regret it."

Bernard smiled, wrapping an arm around his friend. "Smart ass comments aside, I'm grateful you came down with me. It means a lot to me, really." He roughly patted his friend on the back, causing James to lean forward a little at each impact.

James raised his head from his hand and smiled back in response. "Ah, it's nothing. You're a friend, and I know this means a lot to you. Besides, I kind of owe you one after you came with me to that gaming tournament."

Bernard chuckled loudly. "You mean the one where you whooped my ass in every match we played? Dude, I didn't even KNOW you could play Melee that quickly! I always saw it as a party game!"

James sighed and shook his head at his friends comment, however his smile persisted on his face. "Well, now you know. Better prepare yourself because 20XX is coming soon." 

Puzzled, Bernard cocked his head to the side. "20XX?"

James' smile vanished off of his face in an instant, and he turned his attention back to the players on the field. "It's a Smash Brothers thing. Don't worry about it. Just enjoy the game."

Bernard smiled apologetically at his friend before returning his attention back to the game. "Well, that's something I can do."

Suddenly, a touchdown was made by the home team, causing the crowd to erupt into cheers, applause and some boo's. James turned his attention away from the crowd and glanced back at the highschool behind him. He began pondering if he had forgotten anything: it was nearly summertime and he was in the eleventh grade, and he would rather not risk having his mark unexpectedly drop due to some measly paper he forgot to hand in. It could impact the courses he could choose for next year, and the thought shook him a little. However, he managed to shrug it off and return focus to the football game where two players started becoming a bit unsatisfied with each other and the threat of a fight loomed. James closed his eyes for a moment; his talk with Bernard had started making him think about Smash Brothers, and his mind began cycling through the list of technical information that he had memorized, from Wave Dashes to L Cancels. His hands slowly began to mimic the button patterns as if he held an invisible controller within his hands.

His mind decided to stop on the subject of Multi Shines, and he grinned as the familiar sounds of the game began to play through his head. It was one consecutive noise repeated over and over, yet the thought and sight of it was incredible to behold. He opened his eyes and found the cheerleader team had already taken to the field and performing a routine, causing the crowd to whoop and holler as their spirits raised dauntingly high. Even Bernard was standing and cheering, beads of sweat apparent on his face, due to the broiling sun and the constant
movement. 

Once the cheer squad had finished their routine, one of them, a young, attractive brown haired girl broke away from her team and made her way into the stands towards James. James stiffened as the girl approached, and he bit his lip; he knew exactly who the girl was, and began panicking. Quickly turning his attention to Bernard, he tapped on his shoulder to get his attention and signaled to the approaching girl.

Bernard grinned as James, refusing to speak, made hand signals as quickly as possible. "Oh, dude... just play it cool! You'll be fine."

James gritted his teeth, infuriated at his friends useless advice. "Bernard, please... I can't-"

"Oh, yes you can!" Bernard interrupted loudly, signalling for the brunette to come closer. She smiled in response to Bernard's gesture and moved through the sea of people. Bernard leaned in close to James and whispered excitedly, "I told you; you needed a new hobby. Now's your chance!"

James, clearly not in the mood, began grinding his teeth out of frustration and nerves. "No, now is NOT my chance," he whispered aggressively, "I had chances the other few times, and did they end well Bernard? No. No they did not end well at all. You remember; I can't talk to girls," he turned his attention back to the approaching girl, sweat began to drip down his face, "there isn't going to be some great exception today and shit is just going to magically change. It's going to stay constant until the day I die, Bernard. I’ll be single until the day I die.”

Bernard shook his head. "Look dude; I get it. You have a crush on her. You don't know how she feels about you though. But you're never gonna actually KNOW until the day you TRY."

"You say that as if I HAVEN'T tried, imbecile."

"Who the hell, says that word anymore? Look; doesn't matter. She's on her way here now; you have a chance: work with it!"

The girl finally approached and smiled, bright teeth flashing in the sunlight, "Hi James!" She said happily, "hi Bernard," she acknowledged politely, and Bernard politely raised his hand and dipped his head in greeting. "Heya Em," he said lazily. James, on the other hand, simply raised a hand in hello. The football game was suddenly looking a LOT more fascinating to him.

Emily sat down beside James. "I'm, uh... not interrupting anything between you two, am I?" She asked curiously, "because you both seemed to be in a rather deep whispering argument."

James laughed, maybe a bit too loudly. "Nope, nothing like that! It was just about, umm..." James scrambled for an excuse, analyzing Emily's outfit before spawning a smart idea, "the cheerleading team! Yeah, they looked awesome this year!" James smiled to back up his statement, while Bernard nodded in agreement.

Emily cocked her head in confusion. "I saw you with your eyes closed for half of it, James..." her soprano voice announcing the contradiction in James' lie.

James' mind stumbled for a moment, temporarily stunned by Emily's observation, before putting an arm up to his head and running his hand through his short, black hair, sweeping it to the side, something he commonly did when he was stressed, nervous or, in this case, both, and letting out a small laugh. "Yeah, but I saw the REST of it! I didn't miss ALL of it!" He continued to laugh, hoping his new theory would hold its weight.

Emily, somehow, cocked her head further, bringing a finger up to her chin in thought. If you liked it so much, then why didn't you get up like everyone else?" She asked curiously.

James, once again, reeled at her response, he glanced at Emily, her brown bangs covering her left, emerald green eye, a curious, innocent look on her smooth face. 'Why does she always have to look so cute?' James thought silently to himself, a small blush apparent on his face, "Umm... well, y'see..."

Bernard grinned. "Yeah, James, tell us WHY you weren't so excited for the cheering squad!" He said smugly, causing James, now completely red in the face, to shoot him a death glare. Bernard laughed in response to his reaction.

James thought as quickly as possible and wiped his forehead of sweat. His mind clung to the thought of sweat and, suddenly, the idea sprung into his head; "it's because it's so freakin' hot out!" He replied finally, after a tense moment, "yeah, I didn't want to get up because it's SO hot out!" He began fanning himself with his hand, "you know how it is. Hot air rises and stuff."

Emily began laughing aloud along with Bernard. James, gave them both confused looks before turning back to Emily, who had seemed to calm down a bit faster than Bernard. She smiled her million-dollar smile. "Oh, James we're just teasing!" She rested a hand on James' leg and he nearly jumped out of his skin, "still, I'm glad to hear you liked it though! It took a lot of time and training to pull it off!" She beamed.

James slowly brought himself back to reality. "Yeah, well, where's your excuse? You claimed you saw me from the beginning of the performance with my eyes closed!" His smile managed to make itself back onto his face, "you mean to tell me you were watching me the whole time?"

Now, it was Emily's turn to react, as her face turned crimson in response. "Well... umm... during a performance, people say to focus on one point and never change your focus. I chose you since you were... in the middle of the crowd and... you were a familiar face?" She smiled at the end of her explanation, hoping James would buy it.

James decided to shrug it off and let it slide. "Alright, alright. I'll let you off easy." He calmly admitted. Emily giggled at his response but the blush on her face from James’ observation still persisted, though less prominent. 

Bernard leaned towards James, a smug grin on his face. "Yo, look at you go! And you said you couldn't redeem yourself for your past attempts!"

James swatted him away. "Yeah, yeah, I get it," he muttered under his breath before turning his attention back to Emily.

Emily looked at James quizzically. "So... why did you really not get up AND have your eyes closed, James? You're making me curious." She leaned forward and looked him in the eye.

James' fear gripped him again like an iron gauntlet as Emily's green eyes seemed to pierce deep into his soul and steal it like a Darkwraith. ‘A very cute, attractive, unarmed Darkwraith. Who’s also a cheerleader.’ "Do you want the truth, or do you want me to lie and sound cool?"

Emily smiled playfully. "You don't have to lie to sound cool when you already ARE cool," she said smoothly. She seemed slightly nervous as she said it, hoping it wouldn’t sound awkward.

James blushed deeply and let out a small laugh and rubbed the back of his head, 'I was just called cool… from my crush… no pressure...' "Umm... well, I was thinking about Multi Shines."

Emily suddenly seemed truly confused for once instead of the mock confusion she displayed beforehand. "Multi...Shine? What is that?"

"Um... well, it's a bit of technical stuff from Super Smash Brothers Melee and-"
"Oh." Her expression seemed to darken slightly at the sound of his answer, "I see. Nevermind then."

She turned her attention back to the football game while James gave her a disappointed, confused look. "You... didn't even let me finish," he said sadly. Having a lengthy discussion on a good game was one of his favorite ways of passing the time with other people, but Emily hardly seemed to care at all, "or start for that matter..."

Emily sighed, exasperated and turned his attention back to James. "Look, I'm sorry, but I just don't like video games. That's just how I am. I'm into..." she gestured to the football field, the crowd and everything else, "this. I want to be outside and being..." she looked for the right word, "productive. That's the word; productive with my life. I'm not into the thought of wasting away in my parents basement surviving off of junk food and soda, staring at a bright screen for hours on end with a chance of getting Carpal Tunnel-"

"Enough." James cut off Emily before she could continue any further on her rant, his expression grim, "I get it, thanks."

Moments after, Emily finally realized she struck a nerve with James, and looked at him apologetically, her mind scrambling for a way to make it up to him. "W-well, I guess not all gamers are like that... I mean, you're here! So, that means you like sports, right?"

James cast her an irritated look, as if the conversation had finished running its course. "I hate sports," he said bluntly, shutting Emily's hopes of redeeming herself down.

Emily continued in her race for an idea that would hopefully be able to fix her mistake, when suddenly, James rose from his seat. "I think I'm gonna head out now. See you later Bernard, Emily," his voice was low and quiet, his expression still dark as he turned and left the bleachers through the sea of people, towards the direction of the school; he had to pick up some of his stuff before he could head home anyways.

Bernard sighed deeply. "Ah, dammit, dude..." he muttered to himself as he got up from his spot.

Emily, who was now on the verge of crying, looked up at the stocky boy. "Where are you going?" She asked, sadness embedded in her voice.

Bernard shook his head. "Where else? I'm going after him. You should come along too. Apologize to him."

"I doubt he would-"

"I think NOT apologizing is the second worst thing you can do to James," Bernard stated honestly, "besides offending him like that."

Emily looked down at her feet, "did I really hurt him that badly?"

"Let's just say," Bernard began moving through the large crowd of people, "everyone MAY be entitled to their own opinion, but they should still be aware of who they're vocalizing it to, and how they say it. That's the big problem with freedom of speech," he turned back to Emily, "you coming, or are you just gonna sit there and feel sorry for yourself?"

Emily slowly got up with a sigh, "okay," she said, taking on a quiet tone herself, "I guess I can try."

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James wanted to yell. Really badly.

He shook his head as he continued his march back to the school. He felt like a fool; being attracted to a girl who liked sports, of course she was going to end up hating video games. In a way, he felt like he had brought this upon himself, and he was beginning to consider apologizing to Emily for his harshness. But, he quickly shouldered those feelings aside; no. What she had said was inconsiderate of what he believed in, and she should be the one apologizing to him.

He sighed as his mind slowly began to unfog itself; in the heat of the moment, he had completely forgotten he and Emily lived in two entirely different worlds; as if all of those small, unimportant things became meaningless to him in that very moment. It was stupid of him, really; Emily was someone who was so distant from him in every factor: looks, personality, popularity... she had those things. James didn't. He was hitting so far out of his league, it was as if he had joined the NBA without knowing how to play basketball, which would have been true; he hardly knew how to play basketball.

His mind continued wailing on; Bernard may have actually been right about the whole 'finding a new hobby' thing. If simply talking about video games around Emily ended up like this, then imagine how their relationship would be if James only talked about it. He nearly shivered at the thought.

James glanced up for a moment and found himself facing the back doorway into the school. Still lost in his thoughts, he subconsciously opened the door and walked inside the large, brick building.

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As they were running and saw James enter the school building, Emily paused, turned and gave Bernard a confused look. "That's odd..." 

Bernard, not having been one for physical activity, in spite of finding entertainment out of watching people play sports, came huffing along and caught his breath beside Emily, whose physical prowess, after many years of cheerleading, allowed her to not even break a sweat on the run to the school. "W-what's *pant* odd?" He asked between gasps of breath.

Emily walked the rest of the way up to the school, and the exhausted Bernard followed alongside her. "Those doors... they're always locked when there's a game," she said, confusion in her voice.

Bernard raised an eyebrow. "So what? Maybe... maybe they forgot to lock 'em." he said, still panting like a dog.

Emily shook her head and walked up to the doors. "No, the coaches lock them. It's almost ritual at this point; the players exit, the coaches follow, the players wait and the coaches ALWAYS lock the door," she tried the door, her confusion yet growing more as she found the door resisting to open, "but... it IS locked... how did James even get inside?" She gave the door another experimental tug, but the large steel door refused to budge.

Bernard shook his head, his curiosity beginning to grow itself. "Maybe the coaches DIDN'T lock it, and James locked it when he came in?" He asked casually, "that's awfully considerate of him."

Emily brought her hand up to her face and began thinking. "Also impossible. Only teachers have the keys to lock the doors. Unless James stole a pair of keys from a teacher and WASN'T caught OR expelled for it..."

Bernard shrugged. "That doesn't sound like something James would do," he commented, "he's a good guy; wouldn't steal anything from anyone."

Emily, still pondering with her hand on her face, continued wondering, while Bernard let out a small chuckle. "You and James have almost the EXACT same thinking pose."

This comment stirred Emily from her thoughts. "R-really?" She inquired, a small shade of red on her face, she shook her head, and glanced back at the doors, seeing the small rectangular window on the door. She moved up to it and peeped into the window, hoping to see James.

And she did; she saw him slowly sulking along through the long hallway. Seeing him in this state hurt Emily that much more, and she decided to try and get his attention; she bashed on the door, and cried out to him, hoping he would hear her. James, however, didn't look back at her, and he kept walking through the hallway.

Emily blinked tears away from her eyes, emotions stirring inside her again, when suddenly, she blinked once more...

She stood there. Her confusion soon reached its peak and, along with her saddened state, it only made things worse when she said;

"he's... gone."

Bernard stretched, reaching high up to the sky. "Well, we tried. Maybe he's just going home now and we can talk with him tomorrow.”

Emily shook her head, she was shaking now. "N-no, Bernard; he's literally gone... I just blinked and... he didn't turn around a corner or anything... he just, vanished."

Bernard looked at her funnily; Emily still bore the same, confused and shocked expression on her face, and it refused to waver. Maybe she WAS telling the truth. He sighed and moved her out of the way to look through the window himself. He had seen James upset in the past; he did not walk very quickly when he was burdened by negative thoughts. In short, he was probably at the end of the hallway by now.

But, much like Emily had said, James was nowhere to be seen within the confines of the long hallway. He stood there, puzzled. "Maybe he sprinted around the corner at the last second? I mean; nobody just disappears in a long hallway in the blink of an eye," he turned his attention back to Emily, "that's impossible."

Emily was shaking a lot at this point, and she sat down, propping her back against the building. "But it's what I saw!" She exclaimed loudly, tears in her eyes, "James was walking down the hallway and he just... he just..." she began to sob uncontrollably, her emotions overwhelming her mind.

Bernard sighed. He pitied the girl that sat before her: all she wanted was to just try and apologize, and now here she was; an emotional wreck. It hurt Bernard, to be honest, to see Emily like this, however comforting people was not his forte; she would just have to cry it out, and try to deal with it on her own.

Bernard glanced back through the window of the door into the deserted hallway. "Dammit James," he muttered, "where the hell did you go off to?"

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James, lost in thought, continued on his lonely march down the hallway. He had not noticed the difference in the hallways aesthetic until he noticed he had been walking forward for a VERY long time. He suddenly looked up from his thoughts and then glanced around in awe; the hallway had turned into a long, black tunnel. Fear struck his heart as he looked around rapidly. He turned around fully; the door was no longer behind him. He couldn't hear Emily vigorously attacking it in order to get his attention anymore. In fact, he couldn't hear much of anything. His heart rate quickened as he looked around fearfully; where was he? What had happened to him?

He looked back at the direction he had been walking in. He assumed that it was, at least; he recalled turning around fully, so this had to be the proper way, and decided to keep moving forward in hopes of reaching a possible end. He stuffed his hands into the pockets of his white shorts and began walking slowly in the direction he had been walking before.

His slow walk soon got faster and faster until he was sprinting along through the darkness, keeping his head up, hoping he would eventually find some light at the end of the tunnel; at least something to end this vast sea of darkness. His thoughts suddenly began moving at the same speed as him; what if this was the abyss? Or the void? The endless black tunnel where nothing existed and people became powerful, corrupted shells of their former selves, twisted beyond insanity? He recalled his time playing Dark Souls, and remembered the sight of 
Knight Artorias, and shivered; he prayed he would not meet the same fate.

Suddenly, something caught his eye; a light, shimmering in the distance, far off. He ran faster, using the last of his strength to at least get closer. The light itself got brighter and brighter until James had to squint in order to even tell if he was going the right way. Suddenly, the light enveloped him, and...

James collapsed onto his hands and knees, panting after sprinting for so long; he was not used to running for such long periods, however, he did manage to pull himself together and arose to his feet, exhausted.

James noticed the darkness was no longer behind him; instead, he seemed to have entered an entirely different room, except this one was a bright white. He had to admit; it was a much nicer change to that of the dark hallway. He took a step forward, wobbled, and collapsed once more. He was still exhausted from his run, and came to the decision that he would simply lie still until his strength came back to him.

Suddenly, up from above, he heard a soft noise. He raised his head and looked around, still refusing to get up. The noise got louder and louder until James finally realized: 'it's... laughter.' He thought to himself.

He looked around as the sound of laughter continued to swell around him until he felt as if it were right before him. He continued looking around for the source of the laugh, when all of a sudden. "Aww, are you all tuckered out?"

James looked ahead of him at the source of the sound and jumped back to his feet as he saw a brilliant white horse before him. He took a step back in confusion at the creature. It had large wings on its sides and a horn sticking out of the top of its head. Its mane seemed to shimmer with the colors of the rainbow and continuously ripple as if there were a breeze travelling through the room. James observed that the air seemed to be stagnant, and yet her mane continued to flow, and her tail, with the exact same color scheme, followed suit. She had bright, purple eyes, that seemed full of happiness and affection. James also noticed a marking of the sun upon her rump and raised a questioning eyebrow at the sight of it. However, he decided to hold the questions off for a better time; he had bigger fish to fry.

"Did you just..." James couldn't believe he was about to ask a horse this kind of question, but he had to know, "...talk?"

The pale horse let out another laugh and raised a hoof up to its muzzle, making James cock his head questioningly. 'Laws of physics be damned. How is every bone in its leg not broken?'

The horse stopped laughing and smiled warmly. "Why, yes," she, James assumed it was a girl by the sound of her voice, responded politely, "I did just speak to you."

James' eyes widened and he took another step back in shock. "Umm... heh," he began nervously, "well... are you, uh... real? Have I been drugged? Is this a dream? Or...?"

The horse seemed to find James rather entertaining as she continued to laugh at his confusion, almost as if to mock him for not understanding that talking horses were always a thing, and he was just uncultured in the ways of the world. "I understand your confusion, young one," she said in a motherly tone, "however, if I am not mistaken, pinching yourself should answer that question for yourself."

James, in spite of the immense distrust he held for this talking horse, decided to test her theory and pinched himself on the arm as hard as he could; he felt a familiar sting upon his arm and winced at the feeling. He nodded, "alright, not a dream. Meaning you're real, and I'm real." 

The horse smiled at him patiently, "correct."

"Is now a good time to start freaking out?"

"And why would you do that, young one?"

James held his left arm in his hand. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe it's the fact I was just walking from a football game after the girl of my dreams just insulted me, and I walk through the doors to my school and suddenly end up in the freaking void, and ran as fast as I could until I reached a bright white room with a white horse who can talk," James shrugged, "it's a pretty unusual and kind of terrifying circumstance, y'know? Not exactly something you expect on a day to day basis."

The horse giggled. "I see," she responded calmly. Suddenly, a bright flash of white flourished around her, and James covered his eyes with his arm. The flash stopped and gasped as the horse before him had suddenly turned into a tall, gorgeous human woman with the same long, flowing mane as her hair now. She wore a long, white dress that covered her from head to toe, only revealing her smooth looking arms and matronly looking face. She smiled back at him, "is this more to your liking?"

James stood there, flabbergasted. He took a breath, "that... that honestly depends," he stammered out, "i-is that your real form, or is t-the horse your real form?"

The lady smiled. "I prefer the term 'pony', if you please," she said sweetly, "but, yes; the pony is my real form. I can maintain this form, however, if it means you'll be a bit more comfortable."

James sighed. "At the moment, yeah it's a lot more comforting," he admitted, "overall, it only makes the story a lot more unusual, but, at this point... it's almost worth not thinking about it."

The lady maintained her smile. "Perfect. However, there is a reason you are here, and I request that you listen to me, if you'd please."

James pondered her request for a moment before looking around the large, white room. "I guess I don't have much say in this... I don't even know how to get back home in the first place," James took a seat on the ground before the woman, "I guess I'll hear you out."

The woman's smile increased tenfold, revealing perfectly straight, white teeth. "Excellent! Thank you very much," she cleared her throat and began speaking, "my name is Princess Celestia," she began slowly, "I come from a different world than this one. One called Equestria."

James gave her a quizzical look. "So... in this Equestria... is everyone a talking hor- I mean, pony?"

Celestia already illuminated with a smile, grinned even wider. "Very good! You seem to understand."

"And you're the princess of that world?"

"Yes. I'm glad you seem to be comprehending all of this."

"So... is there a king and a queen? Or just you?"

Celestia shook her head. "No, it is just me and my sister; Princess Luna. We rule the kingdom together."

James nodded in understanding and signaled for her to keep talking, and she did. "In Equestria, there are three main pony tribes; Earth Ponies, Unicorns and Pegasi. They all live amongst each other in harmony. There has not been any sort of war in many years. Of course, that does not mean that EVERYTHING has been exactly perfect..." a forlorn expression soon donned her features, "rampant chaos gods and terrifying creatures, such as hydras are only the start of some of our problems,"

James decided to cut her off, "are these ongoing problems or.. have they been solved?" Celestia smiled patiently, "I was just getting to that. "James raised his hands in apology, "sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. Please," he gestured for her to continue, "you have my attention." Celestia nodded. "All of these problems that we've had have been resolved by a group of six ponies: they bear ancient artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony. These elements all bear one quality of friendship, such as loyalty, trust, and generosity. Each pony represents one of the six elements," Celestia turned her attention back to James, "do you understand what I'm saying thus far?"

James nodded. "Elements of Harmony, six elements that represent friendship, six ponies that represent those individual traits. That's about it?" Celestia nodded. "There's just, one thing I'm failing to grasp here; how can friendship beat a hydra?" He asked, a quizzical look on his face.

Celestia smiled, something she seemed to be doing a lot of. "My dear human, friendship can overcome ANY trial. But, if you must know the truth, when the six come together, their power escalates immensely and this magical power can be used to purify, to repair and mend... it is deep, powerful magics."

James leaned forward, now thoroughly interested, "magic, you say?"

Celestia nodded, something about the statement seemed to pain her slightly. "Yes, magic. Ponies in Equestria, ideally Unicorns, are capable of casting spells and performing magics." She explained. James nodded quietly. Celestia continued, "One of the Elements of Harmony, the Element of Magic, is my pupil. Her name is Twilight Sparkle. She is a powerful Unicorn with an incredible talent for magic and academically gifted: she is a brilliant young mare," Celestia said, as if reminiscing on a memory, "but then... something happened. I'm not sure what it was though... something went wrong and... Twilight died. It was a dark day for all of Equestria," she brought her attention back to James, "this is where you fall in James."

James was taken aback by the statement. "First off, how do you know my name? Second off, WHAT!?"

Celestia dipped her head, almost as if in guilt. "I have been watching you, James. Observing your movements, your actions. You have a great gift, and even greater potential. You also have a good heart." She brought her eyes back up to James, "I need you to be the one to intervene with Twilight. Something happened to her that not even her friends could prevent. If you can intervene with her and somehow prevent her death from happening..." Celestia smiled, "then things can go back to the way they once were. And I will be forever in your debt."

James protested again, "but... I don't have any powers! I don't know any magic, I'm not some wizard or something!"

Celestia smiled, "I can turn you into a Unicorn so you could fit right in with everypony else. You need not worry."

James jumped, holding his hands up and shaking his head vigorously. "How about no! I'm a human, and I'd prefer to stay that way. No walking on four legs or horn on my head, please and thank you."

Celestia nodded in understanding. "Then I can grant you some power of your own. And you use it to protect Twilight from her demise. Please, James... the fate of another beings life rests on your shoulders!"

That statement really got to James. The thought of a being dying because of his ignorance was... disgusting. He wouldn't be able to live with himself, knowing he literally turned down the idea of saving another beings life. Even if they were another species from him, he still felt he should at least TRY to save her.

But... then again, this was a talking horse speaking here. She had been watching him for God knows how long, and suddenly appears and requests for her to save her pupil from death. They weren't even the same species for goodness sake! But... it was life or death here. Most humans would see another human living on the street, someone of the exact same species as themselves, and simply turn a blind eye to their existence. Why should James turn a blind eye to a being in need? They need his help; he was specifically asked from the Princess of the world herself to do this.

James sighed and rubbed his temples. He hated guilt trips, and this princess seemed to be the best at them. Celestia eagerly awaited his answer. "Okay," he finally said, breaking the silence, "I accept. I'll see what I can do to help this Twilight Sparkle of yours."

Celestia truly smiled at his words, a smile so brilliant and radiant, it looked like the sun itself. "This is great news!" She said gratefully, "very well. I will grant you a power. However! Be warned; this power is only used to protect Twilight and ONLY to protect Twilight with. You are not to use it for personal gain. Is that understood?"

James nodded solemnly. He couldn't believe he was about to do this...

"Now, James," she asked, "what power would you like?"

James' mind began to reel. This was almost like one of those quizzes that you see online, asking you what you would want the most out of a long set of things. Except... this was very real. His mind began racing of different powers, and his thoughts went to the likes of classic superheroes, such as Spiderman and Batman. He considered every power they wielded and came to a realization; those powers were tailored to the heroes themselves. If he had to choose a power, it would have to be something that fit him, something creative that he could work with.He sat back down and continued thinking, causing Celestia to laugh at him once more. "It is a tough decision once it's been presented to you, isn't it?"

James sighed. "Tell me about it... I just need to think of something that works for me."

Celestia knelt down beside him. "A word of advice, from a long time magic-user: pick something you truly understand. Something you can learn the in's and out's of with ease."

James brought his hands up to his face. "The in's and out's huh...?" His mind slowly began to drift about, no longer thinking of powers, but thinking of potential ideas, until it made his brain start to hurt. His brain then drifted to Smash Brothers once more, a familiar topic to him, and he began thinking about wave dashes.

Then suddenly, an idea struck him, 'in's and out's... like, inputs and outputs... why not a power from a video game?'

His mind started racing through potential ideas of games, through the immense library of games he had played in the past: Dark Souls, TF2, Street Fighter...

James' mind cut him off once more, with a thought that made him grin for ear to ear.

'Why not all of the above?'

Celestia seemed to notice his large smile. "Well? Have you come up with an idea, James?" She asked patiently.

James' grin persisted as he turned back to the human Celestia. "Celestia, have you ever played a video game before?" He asked, excitement clear in his voice.

Celestia shook her head. "I can't say that I have, no."
"Then you may want a pen, paper and a chair. We're gonna be here for a while..."